Fimo, Premo, Sculpey Clay Storage Ideas | Baking Polymer Clay Oven

1) Ideas for keeping your polymer clay tidy  and organized after the packages have been opened.

2) What kind of toaster oven is best for baking fimo clay and other PC brands? My kitchen oven is too big.

Today's Polymer Clay Q+A topics were submitted by Cindy Erickson and Christine Dixon.

Q-1: How do you store your clay after you have taken it out of the original wrap? The only way I have thought of so far, is to put each color into snack size baggies with a label stuck to the outside stating the brand, color number and name, and the baking temperature. The only problem with this is that when you have a bunch of baggies filled with clay in a plastic box, as I do, it is not very organized and it is a bit frustrating trying to find the color I am looking for at the moment. Any thoughts or suggestions you might have regarding this question would be much appreciated. ~Cindy Erickson

        A-1: Well Cindy E. I know exactly what you mean. A plastic box like the Fishing Tackle Box I discussed in previous posts** [See: Polymer Clay Storage and Best Fimo Storage Boxes], is perfect for organizing your clay packages when they are brand new. But once the clay gets out of the package and you have a bunch of different sized pieces and colors, it can be tricky to keep things organized.

First of all you should know that the reason you need to protect your clay is not because it will dry out. It is an oil based product, not water or alcohol based. That means that the material that keeps it soft will not evaporate or dry out.

However, the softeners or plasticizers can leach out by getting absorbed into other materials. This happens when your clay is touching something porous like paper, wood, fabric, concrete and some plastics.

Another reason to protect your clay is to keep it clean. Dust, lint, hair, and dirt can easily get stuck to raw clay and make it look bad.

So what I'm saying here is as long as the clay is in something that won't absorb the plasticizers and that will keep the dirt out, it doesn't need to be wrapped super well. A bunch of half opened packages in a box like the fishing tackle box can actually work quite well.

In my plastic storage boxes, I have all my clay blocks sorted by color with the end of the block showing the name of the color facing up. This way I can tell exactly which color I'm using and the brand.

Instead of just ripping off all of the plastic packaging when I open the clay, I carefully open it from only one end. The end that does not have the color name printed on it. After removing a chunk of the clay, I re-wrap it loosely and slide it back into its 'spot' in my plastic box.

This method works pretty good until the clay chunk gets too small and the packaging just kind of gets in the way. So what I do is have another more open box for the smaller blocks of clay, still with their original packaging. It is a little bit of a jumbled mess, but I always go to this box first and use up the clay from there before going into my 'tidy' box.

Cindy E. your idea is fine too. What you could do is put those zippy bags in a photo sorting box with the tabbed dividers. Put the names of the clay color on the tab and 'file' your clay that way.

If you ever run across a color chart brochure you could cut it apart and glue the colors with their names on the tabs too. The colors could be sorted like a rainbow or in color groups.

It would be easier to find what you need that way and once you put the lid on the box it will look all tidy again!

Q-2: Can you tell me what type of oven toaster I may buy for my polymers. I used twice my home oven but it's too big.  I want one same as yours on your freebie vids. ~Christine Dixson

        A-2: Any brand of toaster oven is fine to use, you actually don't need to have a special polymer clay oven like they sell at many craft stores. A cheap one you can find on sale or a second hand one will work just fine. If you can find a low priced convection toaster oven, they are even better because they heat more evenly.

The toaster oven I used in the video you are referring to [See Free Polymer Clay Tutorials], is an older model Black and Decker Toast-R-Oven/Broiler. The inside of this oven is about 11" x 7" with a height clearance of about 3.5" from the bottom rack. I personally would not want to go much smaller than this on the inside or there wouldn't be enough room for a bead baking rack.

For more info on using toaster ovens for baking polymer clay read this article: How to Bake Sculpey, Premo and Fimo

The topics covered in today's Polymer Clay Q+A were:

• Fimo, Premo, Sculpey Clay Storage Ideas  <AND>
• Tips on Which Polymer Clay Oven to buy for baking your clay.

If this article was helpful, please let me know in the comments section below. Thank you to Cindy E. and Christine for the great questions. And remember… if there's something you would like to know about making polymer clay beads and jewelry, I'm here to help.